Legend of the Black Knight
by Kulmanari
Summary: What is it that keeps Zachary Martin awake during the early hours of the morning when he should be dead to the world you ask? The truth keeps me awake. A single, unavoidable, horrible truth… For the good of all mankind, Cody Martin must die.
1. The Long Night

The Chaos Series by Kulmanari

_Truth Seeker - The Chaos Demons - **Legend of the Black Knight** - Reflections In Time_

**"The Long Night"**

_I can't sleep…_

_ Heck, I can't even think straight. Maybe writing all of this down will help? I don't know. I just don't know anymore. _

_ What is it that keeps Zachary Martin awake during the early hours of the morning when he should be dead to the world you ask? The truth keeps me awake. A single, unavoidable, horrible truth…_

_ In just a few short hours it will be up to me and the others to kill my own twin brother…_

_ For the good of all mankind, Cody Martin must die._

_ It's not his fault, but he's become something that cannot be allowed to live in this world or any other for that matter. He has become the Black Knight. No, not the 'Dark Knight' as in 'Batman', I wish it were like that. No, Cody has become the embodiment of pure evil and will be the instrument that leads to the destruction of all the Realms in existence. _

_ Have I lost you yet? _

_ Yeah, I thought so… _

_ Up until the past few days, the full truth of the extraordinary events that my brother and I have survived was known only to a select few people. Our identities were kept secret from the world at large and our family protected to ensure that we might know some small semblance of what it is to be normal again. Like all good things, it wasn't meant to last._

_ Soon, everyone will know what my brother has become and learn of the path of destruction he has laid out before us. Or rather, everyone will know of this if he doesn't survive. If we don't stop him however, it's not going to matter anyway because there will be no one left alive who can stop him._

_ I guess I should start at the beginning, but don't worry it won't be too long, I hope... I hate writing even though Casius says I'm getting good at it… _

_ Whatever…_

_Anyway, Cody and I were just your normal (mostly) sixteen year old American city kids. We lived in a pretty swag five star hotel where our mother worked as the premiere Cabaret singer while our dad traveled around the country with his band performing for the masses. Yeah, they had gotten divorced when I was eleven. Mom was sick of moving around the States, she gave Dad the ultimatum and when he didn't give in she left him. Cody and I came to Boston with her as she started looking for a job that could support the three of us._

_It wasn't a happy time, living in a crummy dump and barely having enough money to keep food in our bellies, clothes on our backs and gas in the car. But then, as if our life had suddenly become a Disney fairy tale Mom caught a lucky break! She was offered a job at the prestigious Tipton Hotel in downtown Boston after getting an interview and the chance to perform a few of her better routines. After learning of our rather poor living conditions, the Tipton's general manager advanced her two weeks pay and offered us room and board as part of her contract. _

_ And so at the age of twelve, our lives took a turn for the better. Mom had a steady job that kept us afloat, Dad's band started hitting the big time which meant more child support money in the mail each month and Cody and I finally got to live in one place for more than a few months. We went to the same school with the same people for years. Four awesome years passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye._

_Then we turned sixteen in August of 2008 and one month later the world ended…_

_Whoa, time out! I've gotta fill you in on some stuff real quick before I explain how the world ended. Don't you just hate cliffhangers like that? _

_We, being the people of the planet Earth, are not alone in universe. No, I don't mean that little green men from Mars really exist or stuff like that. There are other worlds inhabited by humans out there in the cosmos. Don't ask me where, I don't know. What I do know is that they are all interconnected by cosmic strings of energy and that if you possess the power to manipulate either of the two energies known as Light or Darkness, then you can travel between these worlds. If you're really powerful you can even open a gateway between worlds, or Realms as we call them, to allow the passage of people or creatures that couldn't normally travel there by themselves._

_Imagine the darkest, scariest world full of creatures that look like they've come straight out of hell. Now multiply your vision by a hundred or so and you would have the world of Iratus. This place is much better described though as the Chaos Realm. I still have nightmares every time I go to bed wondering what that place really looks like…_

_Ok, time in! Where was I? Ah yes, the world ended shortly after Cody and I turned sixteen. In the month of September 2008 powerful assassins who could manipulate the power of Darkness called 'Dark Spawn' were sent to Earth from Iratus to murder my brother and me. We had no idea why they targeted us at the time. The truth is incredible, but we'll get to that later._

_One moment we were having breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning, the next Demons from my darkest nightmares were storming the gates as they smashed into our suite. Mom threw herself between them and my brother and I to buy us time to get away. There was no way we were leaving by the front door, so we retreated into our bedroom chased by the screams of our mother and locked ourselves in. _

_This wouldn't stop them for long. We tore off the cover of the air vent in our room which was just barely big enough for us to squeeze through. I pushed Cody in first and followed right behind him, but I didn't make it. My jeans got caught on a loose screw and I barely had time to react before I found myself being dragged back out and thrown like a rag doll across the bedroom._

_Strangely it didn't hurt. Stranger still was the sense of great power that filled me from head to toe. I felt like a million bucks at that moment, no a billion bucks. I felt like nothing could stop me and so I lashed out with devastating punches and kicks, barely noticing what I was pummeling. I had bought myself just enough time to slam the cover back into place on the vent and say goodbye to my twin brother before the Dark Spawn sent to kill us finally made his debut._

_When the Dark Spawn attacked, it DID hurt and left me gasping for breath collapsed against the wall. I looked up into the face of the man who I would later learn was called Chiam and felt a hatred beyond anything I've ever felt before flow through me. The intoxicating power within my body seemed to lift me up and I started to glow like a chem light, but before anything could come of this strange occurrence my life was cut short. _

_Chiam had inflicted a fatal wound upon me with the obsidian sword he carried and left me alone in my bedroom to bleed out and die while he pursued Cody. Through all of the pain and the blackness that began to consume me, I prayed that my brother would survive. Just before I died I met someone who seemed like a long lost friend of mine._

_His name was Casius. He is the Realm Lord of Earth and the leader of its Light wielding Guardians. My leader…_

_From this point on things get a little crazy. I'll do my best not to confuse you too much. _

_Cody did indeed survive that horrible day. In fact he survived for another two years as our world became a literal 'Hell on Earth'. I don't have all of the details. Cody doesn't like to talk about what happened._

_What I know for sure is that Cody eluded the Dark Spawn sent to kill him for a time as he began to develop his Light powers and eventually killed a couple of them along with hundreds of the Demons they had brought to our world. He made friends and lost them just as quickly. He'd save people only to see them die later on. _

_After two years of enduring this living nightmare, Cody quit fighting and retired to a cabin in the Appalachian Mountains with Lily, a girl he'd rescued early into the invasion of our world and came to love deeply, to live out the rest of his days. He would remain there until he was paid a visit by Jarran Noh'Malkiri, the son of the very man who had launched the invasion to begin with. Jarran was a Dark Spawn from Iratus, just like Chiam, but unlike that murder Jarran had a vested interest in seeing Earth saved and his father stopped._

_Again, the details are sketchy at best. Cody is the only one who has any idea of what really happened and even he's not too sure on the chain of events that brought us to this point (I'll get to that in a moment, I promise). _

_There was a hell of a battle in what remained of Boston, Jarran died defeating his father and Cody almost bit the bullet as well, but he managed to pull through. He came back through a rift in time, using some sort of machine and arrived on a completely intact and untouched Earth a week before the invasion began. _

_ Cody set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to a final confrontation with Ashani Noh'Malkiri and saved our world. He died protecting us all and a part of his memory still lives on within the Cody Martin of THIS time line. For that matter, my other self perished protecting us all as well. _

_Man that's heavy…_

_So what happened to me? I died right? Yeah, but long story short Casius took me to another planet in the cosmos called Haven where I was healed, revived, rapidly nursed back to health and given a crash course in combat training. It was the most grueling week of my life and the most important._

_I returned to Earth in time to fight in the final battle against Ashani. Cody may have set the events that led to Ashani's downfall in motion, but I was the one who ended the threat posed to our world once and for all. The blood of Iratus's Realm Lord stains my hands. _

_It was the first human life I'd even taken and I had hoped it would be the last._

_Six months later I still hoped that it would be the last, but seeing what my brother Cody has become and what he represents makes me believe that I will have to kill again. I don't see any other way to end the threat he now poses, but god I wish there was an alternative…_

_ Maybe we can think of something in what little time we have left._

_ Maybe…_

**_Zachary Martin_**

**_27 March, 2009_**

* * *

"Zack…"

"Mmm, I'm up, I'm up!" Zack mumbled as he turned away from the person disturbing his sleep.

"No you're not," Casius disagreed sharply. Groaning, Zack sat up and stared at his mentor bleary eyed. Then he caught sight of the golden sunlight flooding into the room through the window that signaled the arrival of dawn and he was instantly awake.

"It's time."

Zack nodded soberly, gathered the scattered pages of the journal entry he had fallen asleep while writing hours before and neatly stacked them in order on his nightstand. If they didn't survive this battle, at least there would be some record of what had happened to them. He wished he could have included all of the more current events leading up to this point, but he didn't have time.

Swiping what appeared to be a small piece of paper off of his nightstand and stuffing it into his pocket, Zack ignored Casius's questioning look and made his way to the bedroom door.

"And so we go…"

* * *

**A/N:** And so we begin the third installment of the Chaos Series. If you have enjoyed the story thus far, you can follow its production, ask questions, give your opinion on my ideas and leave feedback in **_The Chaos Realm_** forums here on . To my new readers, this story is a continuation of my previous works, _Truth Seeker_ and _The Chaos Demons_, which will give you a great read while you're waiting.

As always, please read, enjoy, review and stay tuned for the next exciting chapter: **"The Dream" **


	2. The Dream

**"The Dream"**

_I could start this whole shebang off by saying something really bizarre like 'aliens have invaded Earth!' (which they did) or that there are people with god-like powers living among us in secret (I'm one of them), but I thought I'd start this off by explaining why it is I'm keeping a journal…_

_I hate writing, almost as much as I hate regular high school classes. It's boooring and wastes entirely too much time that could be better spent enjoying the simple pleasures in life. Things like playing video games with my best bro, hanging out with my fellow Guardians of Earth (those people with the god-like powers I mentioned earlier) and having some quality 'Maya time'. Maya's my girlfriend by the way… Ah, I'm getting off topic already! See? I said I hate writing didn't I?_

_Casius is making me do this… He practically blackmailed me into keeping this journal and I'm not going to sugar coat anything regardless of whether or not he reads it. Anyway, Casius is like our leader. He's really old (in the immortal, been around for a millennia or so, sense) and ridiculously powerful. Casius agreed to give me some private training sessions to better develop my power and fighting skills in the wake of the near disastrous invasion that we barely stopped, but after a few training sessions he found out about my poor performance at school and has refused to train me unless I shape up. He thinks writing this journal will make me a better student. I don't see how…_

_So anyway, here I am several months after the world nearly ended… _

_Writers block! _

_Crap!_

_Yeah… _

_Well, I guess the good news is that me and my twin brother Cody are headed to a private school for people with powers like ours (except that we're like a billion times stronger than the normal students so we've gotta water it down a bit…okay a lot!). From what Casius has told me it sounds like a pretty cool place. They don't teach the usual subjects exactly so I'm hoping it's not going to be as boring as public school. _

_When there's good news there's usually bad news too right? Well there is. Cody's been having night terrors ever since he nearly died in Boston. He can rarely catch a full night's sleep without experiencing one horrible event or another. I think it's getting worse too… His grades are plummeting, he doesn't seem to care about anything anymore and most of the time he seems really distant. _

_I hope that a new school, new people and all the new experiences we're bound to have will be enough to snap him out of his funk. I'm really worried about him…_

**_Zachary Martin_**

**_07 March 2009_**

**_

* * *

_****Martin Residence**

**Needham, Massachusetts**

**09 March 2009**

In the waking world, Cody tossed and turned as his dreams turned into a surreal nightmare. The ground beneath his feet was charred black and he stood ankle deep in a pile of ashes. Fires raged on the distant horizon, casting an unearthly orange glow onto the surrounding plains. There was thick acrid smoke hanging in the air making it nearly impossible to breathe without coughing and the scent of something even worse mingled about him.

Death…

Burnt flesh and the coppery smell of spilled blood; it was everywhere. What on Earth happened here? No, not Earth, Cody realized as he caught sight of two moons hanging over his head. Where was this place? What had happened here?

Something moved nearby, startling Cody. Out of the haze of smoke a tall and well built man emerged carrying something large in his arms. It was the body of a young man. Cody couldn't get a clear look at him, but the person in the man's powerful arms hung limp and unmoving; covered in burns and crimson blood. He was dead…

"What's going on?" Cody asked the man, his voice seeming unnaturally loud amid the distant roar of fire. The man ignored Cody, walking right past him as though he weren't there and disappeared into the haze. Cody hurriedly followed him.

He stopped about a hundred feet away in a space upwind of the smoke where the man gently laid the boy's body into a grave that he had presumably dug. Cody saw him pick up a beautiful sword that had been lying in the grass and place it on the boy's chest, folding his limp hands over the hilt on top of his chest. It reminded Cody of how statues of medieval knights looked where they stood in full armor with their swords resting point down in the ground and hands folded on top of the pommel.

When the man moved away to begin shoveling a mound of dirt back into the grave, Cody was able to see the dead boy more clearly. But, something was off. His features seemed to warp and change right before his eyes until Cody was looking at the last person he'd ever expected to see in the grave.

Cody scrambled backward away from the grave with a frightened scream and bumped into something solid. He craned his neck up and realized that he had run into a second man. Something was familiar about him, almost as though Cody should know who he was.

"You can't do this."

Zack was the boy in the grave…

* * *

Zack leapt to his feet as he heard his brother's scream. In a matter of seconds he had crossed the living room and raced down the dark hallway that connected the bedrooms to the rest of their new home.

When he burst into Cody's room, Zack found his twin sitting up in bed running a hand through his hair. In the dim orange glow filtering in through the window from the street lights outside Cody looked like a wreck; his nightclothes were drenched in a cold sweat and he was visibly shaking. Zack flicked on the light and sat down in the computer chair across from Cody, scooting it forward so that he was only inches from his twin.

Blue-green eyes studied Zack briefly before boring into his own matching eyes. This was nothing new. Cody had been suffering from repeated bouts of insomnia and horrible nightmares whenever he did manage to catch some sleep and he was never quite sure what was real after waking up. Zack felt his heart break as his twin looked at him, attempting to judge whether or not he was real.

"It's me Codes," Zack said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. He heard their mother stirring nearby, her bedroom door opening and the sound of feet jogging across the carpeting.

Finally, and without any warning, Cody lunged forward and wrapped Zack up in a tight embrace.

"I hate this!" Cody hissed angrily.

Zack felt something hot and wet trickle down the side of neck and knew that Cody was starting to cry.

"Cody? Are you alright?" Carey Martin asked her son as she came to a stop in the doorway. Her concern bled away as she saw Zack sitting there with him.

"Yeah Mom, I'm fine," Cody muttered. Their mother didn't pick up on the sarcasm apparently, but Zack heard it plain as day and he frowned. In addition to his problems sleeping and the nightmares, Cody's attitude was beginning to suffer from the physical and mental exhaustion as well.

"Do you want me to make you some hot cocoa?"

"No, just…"

"I've got this mom," Zack interrupted, tilting his head so that he could give her his best 'go away' look before Cody could say it aloud and upset her. Carey didn't like leaving her son when he was in pain, but she knew Cody well enough to know that he didn't want to be seen like this by anyone other than his brother. With a heavy heart, she turned and went back to her room.

After she'd left, Cody pulled away from Zack and swung his legs back onto his bed. He laid down with an annoyed sigh and then rolled over onto his side, turning his back to Zack.

"I _fucking_ hate this!" Cody repeated with added emphasis.

"I know Codes, I hate it too," Zack said, knowing from past experience that Cody didn't want anything other than his brother's full and unconditional agreement.

This had all been going on for the past five months, getting progressively worse with each passing week. Who could blame Cody for what he was going through? No living person on Earth, with the possible exception of Zack himself, had ever come close to what he had been through…

Zack feigned interest in studying the navy blue carpet underneath his bare feet, placed his hands in his lap and resigned himself to waiting. Cody would come out of his protective shell soon and tell him about his nightmare. It was always like this…

Five months ago the people of Earth learned that they were not alone in the universe when an army of demonic creatures invaded all around the globe, followed in short order by their cruel superhuman masters. Long story short, two years after the invasion began Cody had been one of the last living humans. He had survived mostly due to the fact that he possessed superhuman powers of a different nature, but equally as powerful as those of the demons' masters. That, and a complex family dispute among the invaders kept Cody alive until the day he could no longer avoid a final confrontation…

When all was said and done, Cody found himself traveling backwards through time and ended up emerging into a world untouched by the demons with only a week to prepare for the invasion. By the time that week was up, Cody had succeeded in securing victory for his family and friends who fought beside him, but at a terrible price.

This Future Cody had given his life, sacrificing himself to bring an end to the conflict and shortly thereafter the Present Cody had had his soul destroyed by the leader of the Demons. The soul from the future that still lingered behind merged with the now soulless body from the present and thus the two Cody's had become one.

Zack could scarcely imagine how awful that must be like…

A person's memories, consciousness and sense of self awareness were stored in the brain. The soul only provided the spark of life and, in Cody's case, the instincts and combat experience of past lives. It was this way so that people like Cody could live life unburdened by past lives.

Unfortunately, in this rather unique case, some of Future Cody's memories had imprinted themselves onto his soul and when it joined with the body of Present Cody, the poor teenager found himself dealing with the aftermath of two very different personalities. For the most part, Zack knew that Cody was still the same loveable little brother he'd always been, but there were times when Cody would act differently or do things so naturally that he'd never done before. It was weird to say the least, but that was only part of his problem.

Any day now, Cody was going to be a father; sort of.

Future Cody's lover, a girl named Lily, had come across time to be with him. Once the final battle was over, she had broken the news that she was pregnant. The baby's father was dead, and yet alive at the same time. Cody still had the memories and feelings of his other self and while he saw Lily as a stranger with another man's child, he couldn't help but feel that he loved her and was anxiously awaiting the child's arrival; his child. Damn it was all so confusing…

With an exasperated sigh, Zack got to his feet and stood beside Cody's bed. He placed a hand on his twin's shoulder and shook it reassuringly.

"You wanna tell me about it?"

"No," Cody muttered, "At least, not yet."

"How about going for a run with me then?"

"What?" Cody asked incredulously, rolling over at last to look at him.

"It'll clear your head. Promise."

Cody glanced at his alarm clock and groaned when he saw that it was only quarter till six in the morning. The brothers had swapped sleeping patterns and now Zack was the early riser while Cody preferred to sleep in as late as possible.

"Yeah ok…" He gave in, probably unwilling to try and get any more sleep and potentially come face to face with another nightmare.

"Great, let's get you out of bed and stretched out!"

"Uh, Zack?"

"Yeah Codes?"

"Just a short run…" Cody trailed off, knowing Zack's penchant for losing himself in his exercising and winding up doing it for hours.

"Anything you want bro."

* * *

**A/N: **Poor Cody can never catch a break can he? At least he has Zack to be there for him when things get rough.

As always, please read, enjoy, review and stay tuned for the next exciting chapter: **"Rainy Day" **


	3. Rainy Day

**"Rainy Day"**

**Martin Residence**

**Needham, Massachusetts**

**Saturday, March 16th 2009**

To say that Cody Martin was happy would be a lie. He wasn't happy; the warm and fuzzy feeling filling him with endless pleasure that he associated with happiness wasn't within him. But, he was content at that moment. He could settle for being content as it was the best he'd felt in weeks.

The reason for this? Kurt Martin had come to visit for the weekend, taking time out of his busy schedule traveling around the country performing with his band to spend some quality time with his ex-wife and twin sons. It wasn't often that Cody saw his father these days, but he deeply enjoyed having his entire immediate family together under one roof and was grateful that Kurt took every opportunity that he had to come and visit.

Presently, the man in question was stretched out on the couch lying on his side watching 'B Movies' while Zack and Cody were sprawled out comfortably on the floor with a big bowl of buttery popcorn set between them. They had planned on spending the day out and about in town, but an early morning shower had killed their spirits. Besides, Cody rationalized, it wasn't even noon yet! People were supposed to sleep in late and then lie around watching the tube on Saturday mornings.

"I hope the weather clears up soon," Kurt commented, suppressing a yawn. The three of them had only just gotten up an hour or so ago. Cody glanced to his right and looked out of the front bay window of their new home. The rain had slowed to a light drizzle and the sun was starting to break through the gray clouds here and there. He failed to notice Zack taking a single popped kernel and tossing it into the air.

"Incoming Cody," Zack announced at the last second. The offending kernel bounced off of his nose and landed on the floor amongst other pieces of popcorn that he had failed to catch. Mildly annoyed at the surprise attack, Cody grabbed a fresh kernel, placed it between his thumb and index finger and flicked it at Zack's face in retaliation. It bounced off his brother's cheek and shot high into the air. The older twin twisted his head sideways and caught it in his mouth as it came back down.

"Mmm, thanks!"

Cody rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the television. They watched the ending of the movie in silence, broken only by the occasional crunch of popcorn being devoured and then Kurt slid down onto the floor to join his sons as the credits began to roll. The popcorn bowl narrowly avoided being overturned thanks to Cody's quick reflexes.

"Did I ever tell you guys how proud of you I am?" Kurt asked, draping an arm around each of their shoulders.

"Not lately," Zack replied with a knowing grin. The whole Zack and Cody being 'Guardians of Earth' thing was a lot for their father to swallow. Nevertheless, Kurt Martin took every opportunity to express his pride in his sons and made an effort to try and understand what they were going through with their new powers. Despite all of this, Cody felt like his father couldn't truly understand him as he was now and that saddened him greatly…

"I am so looking forward to early retirement and spending more time with you guys!" Kurt exclaimed, gently shaking them in encouragement.

After the final ashes of the Battle of Boston had settled, the Martin family found themselves homeless and Carey was left jobless. The Tipton Hotel where they had spent the last four years of their lives had been at the center of the invasion and now stood in ruin with the upper floors sheared off, most of its windows blown out and several floors were completely demolished. Carey went to work almost immediately as a waitress at a classy five star restaurant and had found a small apartment in the city to live in, but this soon turned out to be only a temporary measure in light of what happened next.

For extraordinary acts of bravery and sacrifice in defense of the planet Earth, Zachary Martin and Cody Martin were rewarded with a joint trust fund by the Paladin Order so great that their knees had gone weak and were advanced ten percent to cover any and all expenses for the foreseeable future. Carey and Kurt Martin would never have to work another day in their lives again. The twins would never have to work period, not even if they lived to be five hundred years old which was technically possible as they were immortal.

In short order Carey had quit her job as a waitress and turned her attention onto working for a small magazine company as an editor to keep herself busy. The family car, an ancient 94' Cavalier, had been traded in for a brand new navy blue Chevy Malibu while Zack had gone all 'big spender' with the purchase of a jet black Camaro that he still had a hard time driving because of the stick shift and Cody had settled for an environmentally friendly silver Ford Fusion Hybrid. Elsewhere, Kurt Martin was getting ready to retire from his band, though he still wanted to finish a few more tours around the nation before calling it quits. He was in the process of looking for a new singer/guitarist to fill his spot and pretending to look for a job around Boston that would let him settle down with his family.

It seemed like everything Cody had ever wanted for his family was finally coming true. His parents were drifting back together again, they had enough money to live on forever (seriously), he lived in a house (an actual house with a front lawn and a pool out back!) for the first time in his life, had his own room and was enrolled at a school designed especially for people with his talents (on a lesser scale) which was due to start soon. What more could he want? Everything was perfect. Or was it?

Sixteen years old was too young for him to become a father. THAT was one of the dark clouds hanging over his head. Two years into the future of an alternate Earth he had taken things well beyond home base with a girl named Lily that he had rescued during the early hours of the invasion and now she was pregnant with a healthy baby boy due to arrive very soon. This was all well and good except for the fact that he hadn't done the act himself, nor did he remember doing it since it was technically his future self. Cody only had fragmented memories of his future self's time together with Lily and feelings for the mother of his child that he couldn't explain. It was all so very confusing that at times he felt like pulling out his hair in sheer frustration.

And that was another of the dark clouds… When Future Cody sacrificed himself in a futile attempt to destroy the Demon Lord, Ashani Noh'Malkiri, who had brought about the invasion of Earth his soul lagged behind. This free soul would later find its' way into Present Cody's body as he lie dying in the streets of Boston, his life force having been stripped away by the invading tyrant. The soul empowered the body, it wasn't supposed to carry over thoughts, memories and feelings, but it did and this left him with a horrible sense of duality. He'd changed overnight and some of the changes he didn't like…

_DING DONG!_

Cody was startled out of his thoughts as someone rang the doorbell. It was a late and rainy Saturday morning and no one was expecting company or random people selling stuff in such bad weather. It was too early for the mailman or a delivery company as they came later in the afternoon. Outside of that only a select few people even knew where the Martin's had relocated too.

The three of them all got to their feet and Carey poked her head out of the office where she had been working on the computer. Kurt started for the door, but Zack stopped him.

"Maybe I should…" Kurt started to say.

"Dad, I've got this," Zack countered. If there was someone who meant them harm standing outside, a Guardian of Earth would be a much more suitable choice to face said person than a normal adult. As father and son looked at each other in disagreement, Cody rolled his eyes and calmly walked over to the front door thinking about how silly and paranoid they were both being. Anyone bearing ill intentions for them wouldn't be ringing the doorbell openly announcing their presence and they definitely wouldn't have come in broad daylight (figuratively speaking).

_DING DONG!_

"Did you order a pizza or something bro?" Zack wondered as Cody casually opened the door. A young man with white blond hair stood before him dripping wet as the rain rolled off of his drenched clothing.

"Sup Jarran?" Cody greeted, stepping back to let their friend come into the foyer out of the rain. Zack came up behind Cody and peered over his shoulder.

"Definitely not the delivery guy."

"Sorry to disappoint," Jarran apologized sarcastically, shrugging his shoulders and giving them a strained smile. Cody frowned, noting that Jarran looked a little paler than usual and seemed very tired.

"Hi Jarran," Carey Martin greeted, offering him a fresh towel to dry off with, "Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Hello Mrs. Martin, anything warm would be perfect, thank you," Jarran replied, then turned to Kurt, "And you must be Mr. Martin, I'm sorry about coming by unannounced."

"I fear we may have died of boredom if you hadn't," Kurt said as he shook hands with the younger man, "My boys have told me all about you, it's nice to finally meet you."

"And you sir."

Cody was awestruck at how polite Jarran was. He was the Demon Lord of the Chaos Realm, commanding legions of dark creatures and a handful of powerful Champions who were equal, if not greater, in strength than Earth's Guardians. He influenced the governing council of Iratus, the name of the planet where his people had created a grand civilization completely underground. Jarran had led the other Champions to defy his father in order to protect the Earth from destruction and stood by as Ashani was finally slain by Cody's twin brother whom he now called a friend…

When it all came down to it, Jarran had no inherent reason to be polite or charming. The young man from Iratus wielded immense power and had seen two Realms invaded, one of which was conquered and the other saved by his own actions. Jarran was acting like this because that's just how he was. He was a kind, understanding and open minded guy at heart. Cody envied him.

"Please, make yourself at home," Kurt suggested.

"I didn't plan on staying for long…"

"Stay for lunch at least man, we haven't seen you since your birthday party. Tell us what you've been up to," Zack pleaded. Cody knew that his brother was deeply interested in Jarran's search for his long lost mother. To be perfectly honest, Cody was kind of intrigued too.

"Alright, I can do that," their guest agreed.

As Jarran took off his coat before heading deeper into the house, Cody caught sight of a blood soaked bandage wrapped around his left arm.

"That doesn't look good," Zack commented dryly.

"Doesn't feel too good either," Jarran agreed, wincing at the amount of blood that had soaked through, "But that's not what I'm here about."

"You can tell us all about whatever it is you came here about while I take a look at that arm," Cody ordered. Jarran shrugged and followed Cody into the bathroom where the younger twin began to unroll the gauze bandage carefully. Zack leaned against the door frame watching with a confused look on his face.

"Why don't you just use your healing powers Cody?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Cody replied as he studied the dried blood that had started clotting along the edges of the gash in Jarran's arm. He frowned, not liking what he was seeing.

"Why not? It's not like your healing is limited to just the Guardians," Zack wondered, pointing out the fact that Cody had healed several normal humans in the aftermath of the Battle of Boston six months ago.

"Because…" Jarran answered, "Cody being what he is and me being what I am…"

"You need to see a doctor. This needs stitches at the least, maybe minor surgery at the worst," Cody finally diagnosed.

"It's not like you're connected to your power right now Jarran. It's worth a shot," Zack suggested. Jarran gave him a dubious look, but agreed to let Cody try anyway.

Cody set his fingertips on top of the gash and concentrated. He opened himself up to the power of the light as easily as one flicked on a light switch and felt a torrent of energy rush to fill him from head to toe. Gently nudging a tiny bit of power into his fingers, Cody willed the wound to mend itself and pushed the energy into Jarran's flesh. The instant he did so, the young Demon Lord snatched his arm back as if he'd been shocked.

"See?" Cody asked, looking pointedly at his brother, "I told you it was bad idea."

"Try it again Cody," Jarran said bravely, extending his arm again, "It wasn't that bad…"

Cody sighed and gave it another go. This time Jarran didn't pull away, though he was clearly struggling with the pain of being touched by light energy. As Cody began to ramp up the level of power to the level necessary to heal, his patient quietly endured the agony of his touch.

Jarran clenched his teeth to keep from screaming, squeezed his eyes shut so hard that tears began to run down his cheeks, his forehead started sweating profusely and he began shaking. The healing however was working. Damaged muscle tissue began to regrow while new flesh appeared on either side of the gash, spreading out till both sides met over the wound, merged together and pulled tight. When it was over, all that was left was a rather raw looking patch of pink skin where the gash had once been.

Cody pulled away and his patient groaned before breathing heavily through his mouth trying to catch his breath.

"Thanks…" Jarran said weakly when the pain subsided.

"Don't mention it."

"So, what happened to you?" Zack inquired.

Moments later they were all seated at the dinner table leaning forward anxiously as Jarran began to tell the grisly tale of a small town recently stained with the blood of its residents.

* * *

**A/N: **A rainy day turns up a surprise, but most welcome visitor. Jarran is on Earth, cut off from the Darkness, searching for clues as to his mother's whereabouts. So what is it that brought him to the twins?

As always, please read, enjoy, review and stay tuned for the next exciting chapter: **"Ghost Town"**


	4. Ghost Town

**"Ghost Town"**

**Rustic, Arizona**

**14 March 2009**

Jarran knelt down in the shadow of a ratty looking apartment and brushed his fingertips over the top of a dark stain in the sand that had caught his eye. Whatever the stain was, it was cold and sticky. He pulled his hand back into the sunlight.

It was blood…

Not fresh blood though; it had long since congealed. Jarran wondered how long ago the blood had been shed, mainly because there was too much of it to have been caused by a simple scrape; way too much.

Standing up, Jarran walked around the corner of the building and got his first glimpse of the small, middle of nowhere, rundown town in Arizona called Rustic. Not a soul moved. He started to get a little edgy; the absolute stillness of the town was very unsettling.

_'It's probably just abandoned…'_ Jarran rationalized to himself as he quietly crept along the main road, careful to remain in the shadows cast by the early morning sun. Abandoned or not, he'd long ago learned to trust his instincts and felt that it would be unwise to announce his presence to anyone or anything by moving about obviously.

As he moved from one patch of shade to the next, Jarran started to doubt his previous rationalization. Across the street from him was an auto shop. The large garage door was open to the world and inside there was a car jacked up and its hood was propped open. There were various tools, drip pans and bottles of fluid scattered around it. Someone had been working on this vehicle very recently…

Then the rationalization was completely shattered as he came across an open door gently swaying back and forth in the breeze. Before him was a general store that was fully stocked, looked untouched by looters, the lights were on inside and a plastic 'OPEN' sign hung in the window. Rustic wasn't an abandoned ghost town like he'd thought. There had been people here not too long ago…

So where did they go?

The sound of wood cracking made Jarran freeze where he stood and his heart began to race as adrenaline flooded into his system. He was deadly sure that he hadn't made the noise. Someone or something nearby was moving around carelessly.

Jarran crouched low and reached down to pull up his right pant leg which had been concealing a knife strapped to his upper ankle. Hardened steel slid smoothly and quietly out of the oiled leather sheath. Now more than ever he wished that he could reach out and summon the unlimited power of darkness. Without his power, he felt extremely vulnerable and knew he was nothing more than a teenage boy with decent hand to hand combat skills.

Eyes jumping from place to place, far and near, constantly refocusing to catch any sign of movement Jarran searched his surroundings quickly. He was careful not to move his head except for extremely slow turns. Any sudden movement on his part, any sign that he thought he had been spotted could give him away to a potential enemy who may not even know he was there in the first place.

Somehow though, Jarran didn't believe that the sounds of movement being made were those of a careless person sneaking around. No, he felt like prey being stalked. He felt like he was the one being hunted.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the gentle breeze carried a rank smell to him. It was the worst kind of body odor imaginable. He nearly gagged…

Another noise!

Behind him!

Jarran spun around with incredible speed, raised his knife to protect himself and failed to block the surprise attack. Pain exploded down his left arm as the edge of the Orc's heavy axe grazed his flesh. He clenched his teeth as he hissed in pain, struggled to keep his eyes from watering and lashed out with the knife.

The Orc had quite the reach with its deadly weapon, but it had made the mistake of attacking at near point blank range. Now, with the shorter knife, Jarran had the advantage. He slammed the gleaming silver blade home just below where the collarbone would be in a normal person's body all the way up to the handle.

If the Demon had thought to use its powerful arms to trap Jarran in a death squeeze, it might have had a chance. As it was, it staggered sideways slightly and tried to lift the axe once more. Fatal mistake…

Jarran slipped around behind the Orc and hammered his foot into the back of its knees, temporarily crippling the Demon. Unfortunately for him, it started to fall backwards rather than forwards like he thought it would. He jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding being crushed underneath the disgusting creature.

"I am your Demon Lord, you WILL obey me," Jarran ordered as he circled around the wounded Orc. Reaching out with his mind he attempted to enter the Demon's thoughts and get some answers as to why it had attacked him and also what it was doing in Rustic.

Nothing…

He couldn't penetrate into the Orc's thoughts with Demon Speech. It was as if there was something blocking Jarran's mental control over the creature from his home Realm. This particular ability worked independently of the darkness, so it had nothing to do with the fact of that he was on Earth and trapped within the world's supernatural defenses sustained by the cosmic power of light.

"What has been done to you?" Jarran demanded.

He never got an answer…

The Orc thrashed itself around and finally started to regain its footing. It started to reach for the fallen axe. Jarran beat the Demon to it, snatched up the weapon and swung it in a vicious arc that connected dead center. With a final cry of pain, the Orc fell to its knees and then dissolved into a haze of black smoke that was quickly dispersed by the wind.

Jarran tossed the axe away, retrieved his knife from where it had fallen to the ground as the Orc disappeared and cleaned it off before returning it to the sheath strapped to his leg. He then examined the cut on his left forearm, horrified at how much blood was flowing from the wound. Doing his best to keep pressure on the point where the most profuse bleeding was coming from, Jarran entered the general store and quickly rummaged around for some first aid supplies.

Minutes later he was putting the finishing touches on a gauze bandage and a pressure dressing. He sighed in relief when it was finally done. It felt a little better, but not much. He'd need to have that looked at pretty soon.

"What is going on around here?" He muttered under his breath, glancing around Rustic. Jarran resigned himself to continue searching the town for any clues as to why the Orc had been there and where the people had all gone to. More than ever he was certain that some of the stray Demons left behind on of Earth when Jarran had pulled his forces back to Iratus, the Realm of Chaos, last year were responsible for whatever had happened here.

Half an hour later and no closer to finding any answers, Jarran gave up the search and prepared to hit the road again in his search for information about his mother. Just as he was leaving, he heard movement from the ratty apartments where he had stopped at earlier and found the first signs of trouble in the form of a massive puddle of blood. His hand went for the knife again, but he relaxed after seeing the source of the noise.

"Hello there!" Jarran called out to the girl who peeked at him around the front door. Her clothes were streaked with dirt and her eyes were bloodshot from crying. Upon hearing his voice, she shrunk away, but then forced herself to stop. She was maybe ten or eleven years old.

"I won't hurt you," He reassured her.

She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, nodded and raced out of the apartment. The poor little girl wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head into his chest. She was shaking with fear. Jarran felt his heart melt and he wrapped his arms around her, gently rubbing her back.

"My name is Jarran. You're safe now."

"I…I'm Jenni," the girl sobbed.

"Do you know where all the people here went Jenni?" Jarran asked. She looked up at him with big tear stained eyes full of fear, but now there was also a glimmer of relief in them as well.

"They're gone…"

"Gone?"

"Some…some bad men came to town and started asking questions," Jenni explained, tightening her arms around his waist. Jarran briefly worried that she might cut off his circulation before she continued, "They talked to some people here, I don't know who, but they wanted information about something."

"What were they asking about?"

"I think they called it, 'The Eye of Providence'?" Jenni wondered, looking to him for answers. Unfortunately for the both of them, Jarran had no clue what it was, but he knew someone who might.

* * *

**A/N: **And so the mystery begins!

As always, please read, enjoy, review and stay tuned for the next exciting chapter.

Also, updates have been slow due to the fact I'm in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma doing some training and somehow my writing folder failed to copy over to my traveling PC, so I've got nothing to work with. I just remembered that I had uploaded this chapter right before I left, sorry it took so long.


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